Time To Invest In Rental Real Estate

In the September edition of Money magazine in a special section entitled ‘What to do with $10,000’, they recommend buying income property near college towns. They particularly recommend East Lansing, Michigan where they show how a $10,000 down payment can get you a three bedroom home that will rent for twice your monthly payment. 

The example they use is the purchase of 3 bedroom median priced home of $80,000 which, after a 10% down payment, would result in a $484.00 monthly mortgage. They project a monthly rent of $1096.00.  Realty Trac provided the data and though $80,000 is certainly not the current median price in East Lansing the opportunity for investors still exist in the area.

In addition to the potential cash flow from real estate investments there is also an opportunity to build wealth through price appreciation and 1031 exchange opportunities down the road.

With the stock market continuing to be a bit frothy, many individuals are choosing to move investment dollars into hard assets which can be a part of a balanced investment portfolio.